


Closing the Circle

by NewLeeland



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Family, Fluff, Team, mention of misscarriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 23:55:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12000591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NewLeeland/pseuds/NewLeeland
Summary: Re-upload of an earlier story. Set in an AU where Jyn and Cassian were married, but the loss of their unborn child through a wound suffered on Endor drove a wedge between them and let to a divorce. Shortly after, Jyn finds out she's pregnant again - and is imprisoned by Imperial Loyalists.Han Solo, feeling guilty that Jyn took a shot meant for him, finds out about this and assembles a rescue party....





	Closing the Circle

* * *

Cassian Andor never stopped loving Jyn Erso.

How could he? Since the moment he had first met her in that command room on Yavin IV, his life had changed completely. He didn’t realize it at first, but on the day of their wedding, everyone had told him that they had felt something like a spark between the Intelligence operative and the recently freed criminal.

Of course, they could have been lying. It is easy to say such things after knowing how it all turned out. Nobody said anything back then for sure. So maybe those words were just friendly nonsense you tell people when they get married.

Eleven months had passed since that fateful day on which he had signed the divorce papers. For eleven months, he wished he had rather cut off that damned hand that gripped the pen. He even tried to do it one night after a particular hard wave of depression, coupled with far too much alcohol. Bodhi had stopped him.

The remaining members of the Rogue One crew were all that kept him sane throughout these months. Jyn had disappeared overnight, vanishing without a trace. He had asked Galen, but the man simply shrugged, looking decades older than he was. It felt like a cruel twist of fate. The scientist had spent years under Krennic’s thumb to protect his daughter. And now, after the war had ended, he was as far away from her as he was back on Eadu.

It was a miracle that the man was still around. Carrying the guilt for creating a destroyer of worlds was a terrible burden. Having to see his daughter loose her child and run away even more.

The pre-Jyn Cassian would have chastised him for barely even reacting when the door to his darkened room opened. Yes, he was on a military base. But you weren’t safe there. No one, he mused, was really safe.

The man disturbing his grief was no one else but Han Solo. Cassian could feel nothing but hate for the man. Cocky, arrogant, a braggart. He could have seen past that after some time. But for Cassian Andor, Han Solo was the man who had killed his unborn child.

That was unfair and he knew it. It was Jyn who had decided to accompany the Rebels on Endor, it was Jyn who had thrown himself between Solo and the blaster bolt. But he couldn’t blame her. Even if he tried, he couldn’t.

Solo had tried to talk to Cassian a few days after Jyn left. It ended with Solo’s Wookiee knocking Cassian out before he could strangle the Corellian. Granted, Cassian had been dead drunk that night. It was no excuse. Several hours later, Cassian Andor had received his discharge papers signed by Leia herself. She liked him well enough, but she liked the father of her own unborn child more.

For once in his life, Solo did not try some awkward conversation starter, he did not give him a slap on the back. He merely spoke in a serious tone, one he had only used half a dozen times. “We’ve found her. Imperial Labor Camp on Moltok. Are you with us?”

Cassian was out of the door, completely armed and equipped only seconds after the last of Solo’s words had left his mouth.

Because if there was one thing that would never change in this galaxy, it was the following fact: Cassian Andor would always come back for Jyn Erso.

* * *

They made their way to the hangar in silence. On the ramp, a whole group of people waited.

Bodhi, nervous as ever, but also grim and determined.

Leia, heavily pregnant, gave Cassian a brief hug before making a beeline for Solo.

Chirrut, a knowing and hopeful smile on his face. Baze, stoic and strong.

And even Galen, clutching a blaster in his hand. Both men exchanged a brief nod.

A tiny glimmer of hope managed to break through the walls of depression and became entrenched in Cassian’s thoughts.

Maybe Cassian Andor was not the only person who would always come back for Jyn Erso.

* * *

For Jyn Erso, her baby girl was the only reason she was still alive.

She had never been one to cry, Saw had been quick to sprout that. If was a harsh lesson for an eight-year old to learn, but she had managed. But for the last eight months, Jyn had done nothing but crying.

For her unborn child, dead because their stupid mother had thought it would be wise to participate in a battle. For Cassian, whom she had driven away and robbed the chance of having a family. For her father, who had lost his daughter again. For her friends, whom she all missed dearly. For herself, for being in that situation.

And most of all for baby Lyra, born in the cold cruelty of an Imperial prison.

When Jyn’s condition became impossible to conceal, she had thought this would be the end. There were many prisoners like her, political enemies of the Empire. But also hardened criminals and for them a pregnant woman was nothing but an easy target.

One Imperial officer however, decided to be merciful and transferred her to the small medical station of the prison, where Lyra was born. The process had hurt more than anything Jyn had experienced in her life, but the thought of not having Cassian with her, that Cassian would never meet his daughter hurt way more.

Lyra had been fed and now dozed on her chest, oblivious to the fact that her mother once again failed at crying herself to sleep. Sometimes, she just wanted to give up. But every time she felt like ending her existence, Lyra had looked at her with innocent green eyes so similiar to her own and hair that reminded her of Cassian. And the thoughts had disappeared instantly.

Jyn Erso was a fighter. Jyn Erso was no coward. And only a coward would leave her daughter at the mercy of some Imperial jailors.

* * *

Distant screams wake her up from an uneasy slumber and as they turn louder, they wake Lyra too. At two months old, the world is big, unfamiliar and a scary place, even when her mother is nearby. So tiny Lyra voices her displeasure at the nighttime disturbance by crying. Jyn desperately tries to shush her. Whatever the sounds mean, they can’t be good for her. An attack from the outside? A prison riot? Both would only endanger them even more. After months of pregnancy, Jyn is in no shape to fight. Not even when her daughter’s life is at stake. It is a sad thing to admit.

Unless, these people are coming for her. But who would come for Jyn Erso? No one. She left them all behind to grieve alone. So it is only fair for her to be left behind now too.

When the doors burst open and the silhouette of a man appears, Jyn is prepared to beg on her knees if she has to. Maybe get a drop on him. One man she can still take out. Any more will be a problem.

It takes only a second for her to recognize the man standing in the room now, his eyes wide with surprise and fixed on her and Lyra.

His hair is wild and unkempt, his beard longer and tauted. Cassian’s face is haggard, clearly showing the emotional distress he’s been in and the marks of a life as a soldier.

For Jyn, he looks like the most beautiful person in the entire galaxy.

Both of them try to speak at the same time, but choke up immediately. So instead of talking, he rushes over and nearly crushes her into an embrace. She sobs into his shoulder and can clearly feel his tears falling down into her hair. Hears him murmuring comforting words as her body is wrecked by one sob after another. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, she wants to say, beg him to forgive her for divorcing him, for running away. But their eyes meet again, she knows she does not have to. And in that moment, she realizes that whatever they do, they’ll never be able to run away from each other. Call it fate, the will of the Force or sheer dumb luck. She’s done with thinking about it, doubting it. Now, it is forever.

Lyra starts crying again, clearly uncomfortable with the presence of this new, unknown man. Aside from Jyn, the only persons she has ever seen are the young doctor who assisted in her birth and the two guards who lazily check on her every now and then.

With some kind of timid gentleness that makes her heart break over and over again, Cassian tentatively reaches out for his daughter. He does not need to ask if she is his, he knows it.

And Lyra seems to know it too, as she stops crying and instead opens her eyes, gazing at her father with some sort of curiosity she rarely displayed before. Cassian feels his feet giving away and he slowly sinks to down to the floor, still embracing his former wife while their daughter gurgles happily.

The idyllic scene is nearly destroyed when Han Solo bursts in, his blaster in one hand, a comlink in the other. But before he can pull off one of his standard one liners, he catches sight of the display in front of him. A family reunion inside an Imperial prison. So he remains still and thinks about Leia, half a galaxy away and wonders how he would feel if their roles were switched. The cold dread he feels is worse than anything else he ever sensed before.

Still, without saying a word, Cassian slowly disentangles himself from Jyn, who picks up her daughter before joining hands again. One hand clutching his blaster, one hand linked with Jyn, they leave the medstation behind. Neither of them looks back and it feels like they also leave behind all the grief that stood between them.

* * *

Han plays the battering ram on their way out and he is driven by nightmares. Jyn’s first child never saw the light of the day because she sacrificed herself for him. If anything was to happen to her, Cassian or - Force prevent it - their child, Han is sure something of him would die too. So he blasts through the prison guards with a ferocity that replaces his usual jauntiness. It works.

She was wrong all the time, Jyn thinks as they make their way towards the ramp of the Falcon. There are people who will always come back for her.

Chewie, Han Solo’s sidekick, who proceeds to blast soldiers left and right with his powerful bowcaster.

Chirrut, even older than back when they met him on Jedha, blind, but no less graceful when he dispatches opponent after opponent with his staff. Baze, gruff, but teary once he spots the child in Jyn’s arms. Bodhi in the cockpit, using the ship’s guns to vanquish even more enemies.

They are nearly up the ramp when Jyn stumbles, months of exhaustion finally taking their toll. One soldier spots her prone form lying just before the entrance of the ship and decides to take a shot. Jyn sees it coming, but can do nothing to prevent it. It feels like Endor all over again.

Cassian caught a screaming Lyra when her mother fell and he lost his blaster in the process. He too, can do nothing.

But before the Imperial squeezes his trigger, a blaster bolt hits him right between the eyes. With a scream of pure relief, Cassian pulls her to safety before yelling for Bodhi to punch it.

Jyn raises her eyes to identify the person who saved her life. Standing in front of her, a smoking blaster still in his trembling hands, is Galen Erso.

Galen Erso, who left her behind on Lah’mu. Galen Erso, whom she spent years of hating. Years of hoping he would one day see her again. Galen Erso, who was so happy that his stardust was still alive, who said that the day she married Cassian was the happiest of his life. Galen Erso, who failed to comfort her after the loss of her child.

Galen Erso, who never had fired a blaster in his whole life, who had never participated in any kind of military mission.

For her entire life, Jyn had believed that people would abandon her sooner or later. Her father did. Saw did. Her mother did. Even Cassian somehow. But now, they all came back for her after all.

“Papa.” She throws herself at him and they hold each other for nearly as long as she and Cassian did. Solo has joined Chewbacca in the cockpit to prepare the jump to hyperspace. Cassian, holding a smiling Lyra, watches father and daughter hug with a grin that nearly hurts his face muscles. A confused Bodhi just lies down, cared for by Baze, who mumbles something about having to call Jyn “little mother” now.

Chirrut watches the scene with the smile of a man who always knew what was going to happen. Maybe he did.

What’s coming next, he did not foresee, however. “Chirrut?”, Jyn’s voice pipes up, having finally released Galen from a bone-crushing hug. “Would you marry us again?” Looking at Cassian, holding his daughter in his arms and radiating happiness, she adds. “I want to undo it. All of it.”

His smile is answer enough and they join hands again. “I thought you’d never ask”, is the Guardian’s reply, but it is drowned out by bellowing laughter. Even Han and Chewie join in from the cockpit.

* * *

“The Force has brought these two together and despite their own best efforts and several other obstacles and troubles, they have decided to stay together for the rest of time. What the Force has brought together shall not be separated by any living being. So if anyone tries that, we will shoot them. That includes you two as well”, Chirrut adds, but his voice can’t mask his pure joy.

Still holding hands, Jyn and Cassian kiss each other for the first time after 14 months. They put every miserable moment, every bad memory, every tear-filled night and every nightmare in that kiss while their friends cheer them on.

One step behind them, Galen holds his granddaughter in his arms. Jyn told him she has been named after her late grandmother and the scientist can not hold back tears of joy as the baby examines him closely before running her tiny hands through his beard. Already curious like her mother, already like her grandmother. And for once, thinking of Lyra does not bring him pain, but pure joy.

* * *

Settling down on Grange is easier than they thought it would be. But the time they spent apart made it clear that they won’t miss the war, the danger and the cause to die for. They no longer need that to be contend. Jyn and Cassian have months to make up for, a daughter to care for. All those things unsaid in the days after Endor spill out at once and they spent night after night talking them out, interrupted only when Lyra wakes up, demanding to be fed or pampered.

Every time she looks at Cassian doting his daughter, Jyn is glad that she did not do anything rash once she realized that a child grew within her. There is still a bit of sadness when she thinks of the other child that they’ve never met, but she has Cassian to talk to everytime the nightmares awake her.

Bodhi too, as he visits frequently so that they decide to have not one, but two rooms ready for guests. Baze and Chirrut are even more often among them. After a few months, a group of Jedhan survivors settles down a few klicks away from the Erso household. Baze, Bodhi and Chirrut decide to stay on Grange a few days later.

Galen builds a small house for himself right next to theirs. Close enough to be there whenever they need him to watch over Lyra or when Jyn and her father make up for the years they weren’t able to see each other.

Her third pregnancy is a joyful one. Yes, there are all those side effects that still stress her out. But Cassian is there for every single hour of it. So is her father. So are her friends. No blasters to threaten her, no prison walls to smother her. The day their son is born, Jyn and Cassian finally feel like everything is going to be alright.

Not everything is alright. There are still a ton of bad memories and as her children grow older, Jyn has some bad flashbacks about the days she was a careless child of her own, surrounded by a happy family till all that was taken away.

But no shuttle lands near their homestead. No cape-wearing man comes to kill them or take them away. Maybe, one day in the future, things will be different. War may return to the galaxy, the Empire will rise again.

But if there is one thing that they have learned, it is that fear paralyzes. They can not foresee the future (maybe Chirrut can, but Baze denies that). But they can live in the present. And in the present, they are as happy as they can be.

  
FINIS


End file.
